1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to online computer gaming and in particular, to a system and a method for providing Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) capability for interactive, multi-player online computer gaming.
2. Related Art
In general, the term “online gaming” refers to video games that are played over some form of network, most commonly the Internet. The expansion of online gaming has coincided with the overall expansion of the Internet. Online games can range from simple text-based games to games incorporating complex graphics and virtual worlds populated by many players simultaneously. Many different styles of play are available online. Many online games have associated online communities, making online games a form of social activity that extends beyond single player games.
Initially, online gaming started with single player games using various LAN protocols with minimal sharing between users, for example, the sharing of high score listings. Later, online gaming moved onto the Internet using the TCP/IP protocol, and with the growth of broadband Internet access, the types of online games playable over the Internet have greatly expanded. Massively multi-player online games were made possible with expanding Internet access, using the Internet to allow literally hundreds of players to play the same game together.
In a multi-player game, multiple persons may play the same game at the same time. Unlike single-player games that create artificial opponents, in multi-player games, players may either all compete against each other, or team up to achieve a common goal such as defeating an enemy that may consist of either computer or human players. Usually multi-player games either use computer networking to allow players to play together or require the players to gather around a single game system to play.
Online games may be either single-session, i.e., very little information is saved between game sessions. In persistent-world multi-player games, known as Massively Multi-player (“MMP”) games, the game world is stored between sessions. Examples of different styles of MMP games are: MMORPG (Massively multi-player online role-playing game); MMORTS (Massively multi-player online real-time strategy), and MMOFPS (Massively multi-player online first-person shooter).
In virtually all cases, MMP games today are enabled by a central server. Clients connect to this central server or a central server array, where the client systems are either home-level desktop systems such as a Windows-based personal computer (“PC”) (or a Mac) or game consoles, such as Sony's PlayStation2™, Microsoft's Xbox 360™, and Nintendo's GameCube™. The central server is responsible for interpreting the actions of the clients, maintaining consistency, and passing information among the clients.
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the basic network elements of a conventional MMP gaming system. In MMP gaming system 100, 3 players or “gamers” are online and playing an MMP game. The workstations 102, 104, and 106 of the 3 players connect to the Internet 120 via links 112, 114, and 116, respectively. From the Internet 120, a connection 124 is made to the central gaming server 122. The central gaming server 122 may be in signal connection via bus 130 with a game history server 126 that may store game histories from all games presently being hosted by the central gaming server 122. The clients 102, 104, and 106 communicate only with the central gaming server 122 and the central gaming server 122 executes client actions and notifies other clients accordingly.
A variety of multi-player games exist with different characteristics and demands varying from simple card games, up to role-playing environments with many users. Being able to support hundreds and eventually thousands of users opens up additional opportunities for interaction and may enable new games or other online multi-person experiences (e.g., a virtual world where hundreds of players interact, simulating real-life-scale experiences).
The growth of broadband Internet access has also given rise to an ever expanding use of VoIP technology. In general, VoIP or Internet telephony refers to communication services—voice, facsimile, and/or voice-messaging applications—that are transported over the Internet, rather than over the public switched telephone network (“PSTN”). The basic steps involved in originating an Internet telephone call are conversion of an analog voice signal to a digital format and then compression/translation of the digital signal into Internet protocol (“IP”) packets for transmission over the Internet, with the process being reversed at the receiving end.
Although progressing rapidly, Internet telephony still has some problems with reliability and sound quality relative to the PSTN, due primarily to limitations both in Internet bandwidth and current compression technology. However, Internet telephony presents the opportunity of adding voice communication to data communication between clients participating in online MMP games. As an example, where multiple players in MMP games are competing as a team against other teams, for example, as one combat team against other teams, the exchange of audio information between team members to the exclusion of members of other teams, has the potential to make the online games more realistic, more challenging, and more entertaining.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and a method to combine the simultaneous transmission of data and voice between clients and servers in an online gaming environment.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.